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Today's News - January 23, 2007

An intriguing look at the "uneasy marriage between autocrats and star architects" and treating building as "a moral issue in these globalized times." -- There's no model to support "socially motivated architecture and urban planning in disaster-weary Lebanon." -- Williams finds that the environmental movement "seems to be in group therapy at the moment." -- He and others explore the issue in February. -- Erskine's housing development in Newcastle declared a treasure. -- Not such good news for other modern masters in Baltimore, St. Louis, Grosse Pointe, New Haven, and Boston. -- Shopaholics in east India should be thrilled with new 5.6-acre shopping mall. -- Two from Gould: a new museum is the "real thing" while a mixed-use center is merely a "wannabe"; and another mixed-use development in Milwaukee proves that a "round peg sometimes does fit in a square hole." -- Russell gives thumbs-up to Seattle's sculpture park, but finds museum wing disappointing. -- Hume finds Seattle library "a palace for the people" (even if fraying a bit around the edges). -- Bostonians win Chazen Museum expansion in Wisconsin. -- New Louisville arena design team named. -- NYC's miles and miles of underground museum.

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Building for the bad: Alexander Hosch looks at the uneasy marriage between autocrats and star architects...To treat building as a moral issue in these globalised times is no easy matter. -- Nouvel; Gehry; Sudjic; Eisenman; Le Corbusier; Mies van der Rohe; Wolf Prix/Coop Himmelb(l)au; Albert Speer & Partner; Herzog & de Meuron; Meinhard von Gerkan; Koolhaas/Scheeren/Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) [images, links]- Sign and Sight (Germany)

On the scarcity of design for the public good: 'Design Like You Give a Damn' throws into relief a lack of socially motivated architecture and urban planning in disaster-weary Lebanon...socially conscious design "is not very common. The model is not there. There's no tradition."- The Daily Star (Lebanon)

Eating the greens: ...the self-proclaimed environmental ‘movement’ seems to be in group therapy at the moment...at a time when environmentalism is all pervasive, this essay examines the growth of the environmental self-doubt, loathing and renewal...in a new, more politically pragmatic guise. By Austin Williams- Future Cities Project (U.K.)

Symposium February 13: The Human Footprint – has civilization gone too far? What is the role of rational enquiry and science in the debate about the environment? -- Corey Powell/Discover magazine; Ronald Bailey/Reason magazine; Austin Williams/Future Cities Project; Martin I. Hoffert/NYU- NY Salon

A national treasure: Byker Wall in Newcastle is listed among the top 5% of buildings in the country...200-acre [housing] development, built between 1969 and 1982..."Its influence, both on design and the way we involve communities in the planning process, has been profound" -- Ralph Erskine- icNewcastle (UK)

The past imperfect: Structures considered landmarks by many are at risk because they're not quite old enough -- Recent Past Preservation Network; Richard Neutra; Cesar Pelli; Frank Lloyd Wright; Mies van der Rohe- Baltimore Sun

St. Louis architectural legacy is fading fast: Any time a modernist house or office building comes up for sale, there is a good chance it will be considered a tear-down, no matter how exquisite the design and subtle the siting. -- William Bernoudy; Samuel Marx; Harris Armstrong; Isadore Shank [slide show]- St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Last look before the fall: New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum was scheduled for implosion...A spokesman for the architect of the Coliseum, Kevin Roche, said it was too painful for him to talk about the razing of the 1972 structure...- New Haven Register (Connecticut)

Icon is worth saving: Grosse Pointe Central Library is slated for razing...destroying Marcel Breuer's library would be a form of cultural illiteracy -- a plundering of the contribution that modernism has made to Michigan. By John Gallagher- Detroit Free Press

A struggle to save the H.H. Richardson House: Architecture is a lot of things. One of those things is a memory bank. In places like the Richardson house, we deposit our cultural memories. If we can't save it, we don't really deserve to call ourselves civilized. By Robert Campbell -- National Trust for Historic Preservation- Boston Globe

Mall boom in Ranchi: Firayalal Veevo City...is set to set up a 5.6-acre shopping mall in the state capital. -- Sin Lye Huat- The Telegraph (India)

Museum sparkles; Bayshore looks fake: The real thing: Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin...The wannabe: Bayshore Town Center, the mix of retail, offices and housing that replaced Glendale's Bayshore Mall. By Whitney Gould -- Jim Shields/Hammel, Green and Abrahamson; Development Design Group [images, slide show]- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A round peg sometimes does fit in a square hole: If it's well-designed, with friendly gestures to the street, an occasional tall building in a low- to mid-rise neighborhood can actually enhance a sense of place, not hurt it. By Whitney Gould -- Workshop Architects [images]- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

New Seattle Park Sparkles Over Bay; Museum Wing Disappoints. By James S. Russell -- Weiss/Manfredi; Cloepfil/Allied Works; NBBJ- Bloomberg News

Seattle library a monument to form, function: ...stands among those rare structures that actually deserve the attention they have received...this is the library of the 21st century; high architecture yet democratic – a palace for the people. By Christopher Hume -- Koolhaas/Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA)- Toronto Star

Machado and Silvetti Associates to design Chazen Museum expansion: ...will add 62,000 square feet of gallery space, object study rooms, storage for artwork and a 160-seat auditorium for lectures and films. -- Continuum Architects + Planners- University of Wisconsin/Madison

[Louisville] Arena designer chosen: ...plans to weave "green," or environmentally friendly, elements and methods into the arena's plan. -- HOK Sport; Louis & Henry; Rangaswamy & Associates; HDDS- Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

Train to the Museum? You’re Already There: An alligator up from the sewer and it’s no urban legend. (It’s subway art.) -- Arts for Transit [images]- New York Times

-- Morphosis: Wayne L. Morse United States Courthouse, Eugene, Oregon
-- Under construction: IBA/Arup: TV Tower, Guangzhou, South China

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